I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to energy management, and more particularly, to energy management of vending machines, appliances, coolers. dispensers, and other electrical equipment for storing and dispensing food and/or beverages.
II. Description of Related Art
Vending machines provide cost-effective delivery of beverages or other products to consumers in outlets, retail stores, office buildings, and other public distribution points (hereafter collectively referred to as “outlets”). These vending machines utilize cooling and heating devices to maintain or serve the beverages or other products at a dispensing temperature different from the ambient temperature. The cooling devices typically include a compressor to compress a refrigerant and an evaporator to evaporate the refrigerant, as is well-known to those of ordinary skill in art. The heating devices typically include resistive heating elements or microwave systems, as is well known to those of ordinary skill in art. In addition, these vending machines typically also utilize lighting equipment to advertise the beverages or other products to the consumers.
These vending machines require energy during operation so it is desirable that the beverage for sale be maintained at an optimum serving temperature usually different from the ambient temperature during business hours, and maintained closer to the ambient temperature during non-business hours to conserve energy. Similarly, it is also desirable to conserve energy by dimming or turning off the lighting equipment during non-business hours. Accordingly, by not requiring beverages to be at optimum serving temperature and dimming or turning off lighting equipment during non-business hours, the retailer experiences lower energy expenditures for the vending machine.
One technique to vary the vending machine's temperature and lighting equipment is through the use of preset adjustments. Preset adjustments are stored in the vending machine and must be maintained over time. However, as vending machines are moved from outlet to outlet, perhaps for redeployment from lost accounts, or as the business hours at an outlet change, the preset times are usually not maintained. In addition, while bottler service technicians and/or route drivers are generally the only people in a position to reprogram the preset adjustments, there are oftentimes not any incentives for them to do so. In any event, these preset adjustments are inherently flawed because they do not properly account for demand variations during the business hours of the outlet store from day to day or during any given day of the week.
Thus, there exists m unsatisfied need in the industry for maximizing energy efficiency by accounting for consumer demand patterns during a day.